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Shorereaper’s Struggles

*This was being written as Severus was posting Ork reviews everyday, so I updated it till the day it was posted.

Shorereaper here, and I am finally getting around to the ranking that apparently was expected of me. I hate usual rankings. For example, I firmly believe that in an overall ranking Tyranids would be ranked higher than Dark Eldar, but the Dark Eldar would give me some serious problems with all of those poisoned weapons against my Monstrous Creatures. So, rather than giving a ranking, I wanted to talk about how I have done against the other armies.

Adepta Sororitas – The ladies of the imperium. So far I managed to play only one game against these women with the new codex, and it went very well for me. Their ability to counter my psychic powers on a 5+ concerns me, as does their psychic cannon which would cause my to perils. However, in that one game, I almost tabled my opponent. They have the potential to cause my Nids a headache, but I think in most games the Nids would win.

*I actually had to face those guns that cause perils, and surprisingly, I only took 2 wounds.

Astra Militarum – Ah, the Imperial Guard. Tanks to fight, and troops to end up as food for my Nids. I have actually had a lot of luck against the guard. Yes, the first round is usually a struggle, as my Tyranids are geared up for close combat, for the most part. And if the list I am facing has psykers in it, the psychic phase could turn out to be pretty interesting (or really dull). Just the seer amount of firepower causes me a headache. However, when you have units of tanks, my Tyranids can just march through them, if I can get close enough. Sure, I may not be able to cause the tanks to explode, but I can usually wreck them pretty easily. I would actually say the Guard is a worse army than the Tyranids.

Chaos Daemons – I have yet to face Daemons in 7th, but they do concern me. If I face the psychic heavy list, I see the Nids struggling. I do, however, actually look forward to facing it though, as I want to see how my standard list works against it. Over all, I believe that in standard (not too competitive) lists, I think my Nids will come out ahead. It is possible that the Daemons are about equal with the Tyranids, and excluding the psychic bomb lists, The Tyranids may even have a slight edge.

Blood Angels – I have managed to face these speedy red devils a few times, and overall I have come up ahead. Yes, there have been some losses (including one game where I lost by one dang point), but I have held my own very well. The Blood Angels desperately need a new codex. The Baal Predators wreck havoc with my Genestealers, and would probably drop a swarm of gants with ease, but my MCs chew through them with no problem. Right now, I would say the current Tyranid codex is better than the Blood Angels.

Chaos Space Marines – Another army I haven’t faced yet. I believe that this would be a decent fight, but again, I think the Tyranids have the advantage. With some of the changes in 7th, even their best unit, the Helldrake was neutered. However, the helldrake would still give the swarm parts of my army something to worry about.

I honestly believe that this army would be much better if it had one more thing. I don’t know what it is… Drop Pods, And they shall know no fear, Combat squads… something would make this army better.

But right now, I believe that the Tyranids have an advantage.

Dark Angels – Another space marine chapter that I have had some luck against. This army suffers with their lack of grav-guns, which would chew through my MCs with ease. I’m not saying my nids would dominate them, but I believe in most cases I would be able to pull off a victory. In the last game that I faced them in, I even marched through two land raiders. Granted, it was two Carnifexes that did it, but 270 points in Carnifexes taking out 2 Land Raiders is worth it.

Dark Eldar – Ah, the bane of my existence. Even before 7th came out, I always struggled against this army. I have yet to play them in 7th, but they make me nervous. Poisoned weapons everywhere give them the best ability to deal with my MCs. Sure, I will get my armour saves, but I will have to take a lot of them. I do think that in 7th they will be easier to fight, especially with template weapons wounding troops inside of vehicles. And while I would rank the emo eldar very low on a ranking, I firmly believe they would win more games than they would lose against the Tyranids. I may be wrong about this, but I believe that when they get a new codex, they will continue to give me struggles.

Eldar – Eldar, definitely one of the top two armies right now, and I believe that shows in my games against them. In every game I have played against them, I have gone down swinging, but I still went down. This army is fast enough to keep away from my close combat army, and they have enough psykers to make me struggle in that phase as well. I may be competitive, but I would lose more often than not. If I could get into close combat, I would march through this army, it’s just getting there that is the problem. I would rank the Eldar way above the Nids.

Grey Knights – Another Army I have yet to face, and another concern. Their ability to nullify my psychic phase, and probably cause me to peril, could create some issues. I don’t know enough about this chapter to really know if I should be concerned, or what I should be concerned about. I do think that this army improved in the 7th, but I don’t know by how much. I really can’t even rank them against the Tyranids, they may be better or worse. I just do not know.

Imperial Knights – Ah, the imperial titans… sort of. This would be an interesting fight. I do not think that most of my army would be able to do anything against them. But my MCs, and maybe my genestealers on good rolls, could be effective. But facing a knight in close combat would be interesting. I believe my Carnifexs would be ok, but with smash reduced to one shot, all my other MCs would probably have issues.

Necrons – Now while I have yet to face the men of metal in 7th edition, I know that they can be decent. While I would rank them below the Tyranids, I know that they can beat the Nids. Their flyers could create havoc with my flyers. And that resurrecting ability drives me nuts, even more so than the mindshackle scarabs, although they do as well.

Orks – Ah, the new codex. In the old codex, I pretty much ran over the orks without a second thought. Now, while I do not have a lot of experience facing the new codex, the one game I played was highly competitive. I lost, but it was a really close game. I firmly believe that the new Ork codex brings the army inline with most of the newer codexes. I need more games to give an honest opinion, but right now I would rank the orks on par with the Tyranids. The loss makes me want to place them way above the Nids, but we are probably about even.

*I got a game in against Severus’s orks, and it wasn’t pretty. I nearly tabled him. If an army does not have anything to deal with my flyers or my swarmlord, the game can get ugly. Plus, the crones having a flame template and causing wounds to the models inside an open-topped tank is a great help. And if the orks ride in a covered tank, they can’t shoot out.

Space Marines – I have greatly struggled against the Space Marines. I believe that 7th edition greatly helped the marines, in fact, I would put them as one of the top three armies right now, and I would easily rank Marines above the Tyranids. Objective secured, grav guns, decent flyers, and loads of other things give them plenty of options to deal with my MCs or even swarm armies. Genestealers would beat the marines in close combat (usually), but the marines make it very hard to get there. In fact, in two of my last three games against the marines, I was tabled. Once by turn three.

It was a disaster.

Space Wolves – This is another army in desperate need of an update. Last game I played against the Wolves was in 6th edition, and I tabled the army in three turns. I would rank the wolves way under the Tyranids, even in 7th. Maybe when they get a new codex they will move up and pass the Tyranids, but at the moment, They just cannot compete.

Tau Empire – The shooty communist fish who need glasses. While 7th edition did equalize Tau vs Tyranids, the Tau have an advantage thanks to their powerful shooting. Strength 5 weapons against my toughness 6 MCs gives them an advantage that most other armies do not have. Well, I shouldn’t call it an advantage, but the higher strength gives them a better wound rate than most other armies. Obviously, they hit less than most armies, but when they, they wound more often. If my Tyranids can survive to get to close combat, I can pretty much march through the Tau, and the great R’varna. If a carnifex gets into combat with battlesuits, the carnifex will cause instant death.

Now, I know some of my fellow bloggers… ok, one fellow blogger thinks that since the Tyranids do not have tanks, they should be ranked low on the overall listings. I disagree, I would say that the Nids are 4th or 5th in the rankings. Tanks are not everything in this game. They are harder to explode, but I have had no issues with blowing through them. And the flying MCs are not something you can ignore, they are very tough to deal with.

5 thoughts on “Shorereaper’s Struggles”

Stirring stuff shorereaper. Thanks for mentioning my sisters first. Our games are always entertaining. I don’t know how we got into the habit that our special characters must face of but our games our far more exciting. I think for our next game, I will be asking the guard for some anti-air and infantry support.

You wouldn’t happen to have one those would you? Also how do I use these with data slates? Wouldn’t that make my list unbound? I would love to have a flyer or dedicated anti air. These things would round my army out. I was hoping to not need an ally for my sisters but it seems inevitable.

With the dataslate, you would get 2 Talons and 1 Stormraven. They have to come in as one group. I know that those three would not have objective secured, but I do not think that you would have an “unbound” army. I’m not sure about that though.